Rob Sobhani on Foreign Policy

Focus on bringing foreign investment to Maryland

Cardin said a bipartisan plan to address the national deficit needs to be the top priority. Cardin underscored that he believes revenues need to be a part of the plan. "Everybody should be paying their fair share,"
Cardin said. "We should eliminate the deductions that allow businesses to send our jobs overseas, and we shouldn't be giving to oil industries special breaks that are not available to other aspects of the energy sector."

Sobhani said he would focus on bringing foreign investment to Maryland. "The way I believe we grow our economy is, once again, we link our economy,
Maryland's economy, to the international economy and we go after specific projects," Sobhani said, noting that he supports seeking funding for cancer research and new homes in Baltimore.

Peace through strength

America faces many challenges in today's world, and one of the greatest of these is the lack of consistent leadership. Our allies and enemies alike must know where America stands and WHAT we stand for.
I believe in peace through strength, free and fair trade, and multilateralism based on American leadership.

Focus on dividing the Iranian people and Iran's regime

Pres. Obama should appoint an Iran Czar to coordinate the overall goals of his approach to Iran.

Should the regime in Tehran wish to talk with the US, diplomacy should always
be on the table as an option.

The US should impose targeted economic sanctions such as freezing the enormous assets of the regime's leaders hidden in Swiss and Asian banks--a more effective weapon than the Obama Administration's sanctions on Iranian
oil exports.

While Washington should keep a close eye on the progress of Iran's nuclear weapons program, our public diplomacy should refocus on the violation of human rights in Iran.

Finally, serious consideration should also be given to the wishes
of the Iranian people. As the gulf between the Iranian people & the regime widens, Washington should focus its efforts on making this divide permanent. Indeed, the national security interests of the US coincide with the wishes of the Iranian people.

Marshall Plan for Mexico; micro-finance for start-up capital

Global prosperity must increase if we are to address cross-border issues seriously, and thus, it is imperative that wealth be created indigenously--especially for the economies of Mexico, Central and South America. We must immediately launch a
Marshall Plan for our neighbors to the south and establish a micro-finance plan for those who want to go back to their home countries but need start-up capital. We need to create a private-public partnership plan so that jobs are created south of the
US border and immigrants (illegal and legal) who are living in the U.S. have the option to return to their homelands and re-build new lives for themselves. Last year, America imported $8 billion worth of toys from China.
Imagine for a moment a scenario where American consumers purchased these same toys from our southern neighbors, creating a win-win situation for all involved--except the authoritarian regime in China.

Source: Column in The Hoya College Times
, Sep 13, 2011

Iran's worldview: oppose Shia victimhood with guns & blood

Q: What is the root of the tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia?

A: It boils down to two fundamentally different worldviews. The Iranian worldview since the Revolution of '79 has been that the U.S. and Israel are dominant factors in the international
scene and should be opposed and challenged. In the case of Israel, the Iranians believe the challenge should be met with guns and blood. The Saudi position has been that the world and the region should work together through dialogue.
Conflict should be resolved within the framework of stability and calm. For example, oil should not be a tool in this process. Tehran maintains the opposite perspective. The fundamental premise of Shia ideology is victimhood.
That is how the Ayatollah Khomeini came to power. That is how the relationship between Iran and Hezbollah is portrayed on the streets of Lebanon and in the Palestinian Territories.